WNO's Salome at Birmingham Hippodrome to feature on Twitter

Mar 25 2009 by Alison Dayani, Birmingham Post

When the opera Salome gets under way in Birmingham tonight, it will be a case of it’s not all over until the Twitterer sings.

For a live Twitter is set to accompany the whole Welsh National Opera (WNO) performance at Birmingham Hippodrome from backstage movements to how actors are coping on stage.

‘Opera Mole’, alias former Independent on Sunday theatre critic Robert Butler, is working with the WNO on the groundbreaking move which will also include pictures for the first time.

And with incestuous lust, seduction and murder at the centre of the Salome plot, there will be plenty of juicy snippets for the Mole to write about.

Daryl Jenner, WNO spokesman, said: “Robert will follow all the action from curtain up till curtain down and will be revealing backstage secrets.

“He plans to follow singer Erica Sunnegardh, who plays the lead role of Salome, and she will be chatting to Robert during her preparation to go stage and the cool down following the performance.”

Twitter is the internet free service sweeping the world that allows people to keep in touch with the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The latest move by the WNO is aimed at showing a fresh side of opera to fans and also attract more people to the art form.

* To follow the action, Twitterers will need to follow @opera24.